The Handler
by Ray by Another Name
Summary: An 4x15 "Outcast" AU in which Rodney went along to the wake and Dave - in true Big Brother fashion - sees through John like he's a wet piece of paper. Written for xRinsexRepeatx in the Stargate Atlantis Secret Santa 2019 fic exchange.


An 4x15 "Outcast" AU in which Rodney went along to the wake and Dave - in true Big Brother fashion - sees through John like he's a wet piece of paper.

Written for xRinsexRepeatx in the Stargate Atlantis Secret Santa 2019 fic exchange.

The original request was for a McShep fic with maybe a little fluff or something kind of new in either a canon-compliant or canon-adjacent AU - so I racked my brain and remembered that I'd gone searching for an Outcast AU with Rodney a few months back and hadn't been able to find one. This is my attempt to fill that void with a little bit of McShep and a little bit of the Sheppard Brothers.

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**The Handler  
**

John walked up to the house with two men. Dave blinked when he caught sight of his little brother. His shoulders were low as he approached. Dave broke off from whichever incessant brown-noser he'd been half-listening to go meet his brother.

"John," Dave held out his hand, "I wasn't sure you were going to make it." John shook his hand, a tight smile spreading over his face. "Good to see you."

Dave looked to the left at the taller man beside John – dreadlocks, facial hair, he held himself like a military man but Dave doubted he served in the Air Force. The man to the right was worse - shorter, balding, he looked more like an accountant than a soldier.

"I contacted your unit commander at Peterson, but, uh," Dave looked back to John now, "Those messages don't always seem to reach you."

John shuffled his feet, "Well…I came as soon as I heard." Dave smiled tightly, nodded, looked at the tall man beside John. "This is Ronon, and Rodney," John gestured out to each man respectively before his hands returned immediately to his pockets.

Dave's lips quirked up – he shoved down a memory of John in his prep school uniform trying to blend in with the other freshman – and shook each man's hand. He gave Ronon credit, the man kept a neutral expression through the awkward tension that was emanating from Dave and his brother. The same could not be said for Rodney, who had a perplexed expression on his face as he looked Dave up and down.

"You three," Dave looked from each man to the next, "You all work in the Air Force? Together?" Rodney's face scrunched up in disgust.

"What's that suppo-"

"They're civilian contractors." John cut Rodney off, mid-sputtering and scowl. Dave raised an eyebrow, looked at John, who avoided eye contact as he pursed his lips. Their rhetoric teacher would have been displeased.

"Right." Dave sighed. "Anyway, John," Dave forced eye contact with his brother, "I think we should probably talk."

John nodded, looked at his feet. He dragged his eyes back up to Dave's, "Yeah." Behind him, Rodney was rolling his eyes.

"I'll catch up with you later," Dave turned away, bit his bottom lip as forced himself not to tack on 'alone.' Whether the men were actually civilian contractors didn't really matter to Dave, he didn't know them, he didn't trust them.

He could probably say the same for John actually, with how long it had been since the two had spoken face to face, but… Dave looked over his shoulder to see his little brother talking to the animated Rodney.

"And you say my ability to communicate with my sister is stunted?" Rodney's voice carried on the wind and Dave couldn't help but grin as John's face puckered up like a peach.

Little brothers don't really change all that much and Dave could handle John.

-.-.-

"That's what he does, he handles things." John shrugged, looking away from where he'd glanced towards his brother.

Rodney narrowed his eyes on John as Ronon asked another question, "How come you never mentioned him before?" Rodney's eyes did not flutter, he merely….blinked. Rapidly.

John had only mentioned Dave Sheppard once in their whole time knowing one another – and even then it had been a guilt-trip meant to push Rodney into talking to his sister.

"Wait…" Rodney drew both Ronon and John's eyes, "When was the last time you were home?" Rodney twisted his hand in the air, trying to indicate more than just this mansion and estate.

John shuffled his feet. Ronon's lips pursed together to hide a smile.

"A few years…" Rodney raised an eyebrow. John continued, "Before I got stationed in Antarctica."

Rodney chuckled derisively, "Of course, because you're the biggest hypocrite on the planet." John blushed as Rodney stuck his finger in his face, "Don't think I won't bring this up the next time you bug me about calling Jeannie."

"I wouldn't dream of it," John held up his hands in surrender as Rodney stalked off in search of food.

Ronon leaned over, grinning, "So…you told *him* you had a brother?" John groaned.

-.-.-

When Nancy walked up to John at his father's wake she was unsurprised by his…fidgeting. He'd noticed her coming and twisted back around swiftly. As if she was going to fall for that.

The last time they'd seen each other was when he'd been laid up in Germany after the helicopter crash – he'd been blitzed out of his mind on painkillers and sobbing about Dex and Mitch – so it wasn't like she didn't understand his reaction. She tried to smile, put him at ease.

"I didn't expect to see you here." John wasn't just fidgeting, he was tense. His shoulders were locked and his hands kept clenching as they stood there. She shook her head and pulled him in for a one-sided hug. He somehow managed to tense even more.

John's grin was tight as he introduced her to his friend Ronon, who hung back – both physically and conversationally. Nancy raised an eyebrow at that, but John was already rambling a bit, trying to ask her about her life. She only had to correct him the once, and she supposed remembering her husband's name wasn't top of John's list of priorities.

"In his mind," John actually smiled talking about his dad, a little sarcastic, but a smile. "Marrying you was probably the best thing I ever did."

Nancy gave herself points for not laughing. This John – awkward, fidgety, unsure of himself – that was the John she'd married, but she'd seen him elsewhere. She'd seen him once with Dex even – John was never unsure of himself except around her. Around her, or his family. Anyone who got too close.

"Ronon!" Nancy's eyes darted towards the man walking up to John's friend. He was short, stocky, wide shoulders. And scowling. "You've eaten some of everything right? Does anything taste citrus-y to you?"

Ronon smirked, "All of them." The man's face scrunched up.

"Come on! The caterers thought I was making up my citrus allergy. Completely blew me off!" The man's arms went up and wide as Ronon arched an eyebrow.

"Sounds like more food for me, McKay." Ronon was outright grinning now. He took a bite of something on his plate, chewed slowly. McKay crossed his arms and stalked towards them.

Nancy watched John's reaction – he looked between her and this man, McKay, and his shoulders somehow managed to tense even more. If he wasn't careful, he'd need a chiropractor to unlock his shoulders. Nancy's lips quirked up.

"Okay, how do I get the snooty caterers to tell me which of the food is poisoned?!" McKay didn't so much as glance in her direction as he spoke to John.

"Usually you ask them, Rodney," John turned, facing Rodney fully. Even with the tension in his shoulders, Nancy caught the smile that flickered on John's face as he spoke. "Nicely."

Rodney huffed, "I was nice!" Ronon snorted behind him. Rodney shot him a withering look, "They laughed when I asked if anything had citrus in it! Laughed!"

John shook his head, a hand moved to his hair.

"Just drop John's name," Nancy cut in. Rodney's head snapped to her and she felt his gaze whip over her as if noticing her for the first time. Analyzing. "They'll take you more seriously now, especially if they've seen you come over here."

"Who're you?" Rodney's head quirked to the side. His eyes stayed on her face. Nancy smiled at him as he looked at John. "Is she important?"

"She's his ex-wife." Ronon supplied. Nancy noted his smirk was back and when Rodney's eyes narrowed on John she knew why.

"You have a wife?!"

"Had." Nancy and John spoke at the same time. Rodney's face puckered.

John cleared his throat, "Rodney, this is Nancy. Nancy, this is Rodney McKay."

"Pleasure." Nancy tried not to laugh at John forgetting her current last name as she offered a hand for Rodney to shake. He took it. She smiled at him. He frowned, deeply. Nancy looked to John then, "So, he's…"

"Yup." John was not looking at either of them now. He was rubbing the back of his head and looking longingly at the barn. He'd never been very good at the personal stuff.

Rodney glared at the sharpness of John's voice, "Okay, I'm confused, what're we talking about?"

"He doesn't –"

"Nope." John cut her off, still not looking at her. Rodney was looking at her though, eyebrows raised. She shrugged.

"I'll leave you to it then," Nancy shook her head, shared a smile with Ronon over Rodney's shoulder. "It was good to see you, John. Even under the circumstances."

Nancy heard Rodney ask John a very pointed question about ex-wives at funerals as she walked away. She glanced over her shoulder to watch him gesture wildly, all while John tried to hide a fond smile that had his hazel eyes shining gold.

Dex had been quite a handful too as she recalled.

-.-.-

"So…" Dave scratched the back of his head as he led John into their father's office – his office. Dave shook his head, "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday." John's footsteps paused. Dave turned to face him, meeting his eyes, "I was angry, and hurt, and I said things I shouldn't have."

John shrugged, his eyes lowered to the floor, "You weren't wrong. I haven't- ...I was avoiding contact." He looked back up at Dave. He didn't say that he got all of Dave's messages to Peterson, but he was biting his lip like he was trying to keep himself from admitting it.

"And dad could have sent you a message, same as I did, but he didn't."

John let out a breath, stopped biting his lip.

"So, which one is it – the muscle or the mouth?" Dave plopped into one of the high back chairs in front of the desk. John's mouth fell open. "And don't even try to deny it, Johnnie – I was the one who told you not to marry Nancy in the first place, remember?" John's jaw snapped shut.

"Rodney." John sunk into the chair beside him, shoulders hunched as his bottom lip puckered out in a pout. "Not that we're actually… I mean, there's rules against it, and I'm…"

"Horrible about emotional communication."

John scowled, "Thanks, Davie." Dave smiled, winked.

"You want a drink?" Dave pushed himself up and headed for the drink cart, "As I recall, these things are easier when neither of us is sober." John's lips quirked up.

"Just don't try to give me relationship advice again." John took the tumbler of scotch that Dave offered him. "Billie never spoke to me again, after the boom box incident."

Dave shrugged, took a sip of his drink, "In my defense, I was drunk when I said that."

"And I was drunk when I did it." John chuckled, shook his head.

"Maybe try something less…spectacular," Dave gestured with his glass as he sat back down, "I got the sense this Rodney fellow doesn't like the spotlight half as much as he pretends to."

John shrugged, "You were always good at reading people." He scratched the back of his head, Dave watched him with narrow eyes. "What?" John looked up at him, eyes wide.

"You love him." Dave watched with a mixture of amusement and sadness as his brother downed the last of his drink. "Pretty sure he feels the same way, given how he glared at Nancy through half the wake." John groaned, head falling into his hand.

"It's not like we're not…together, we're just not…" John was as red as their mother's favorite wine as he looked desperately around the room. Whatever word he was looking for did not magically appear on any of the walls. "Together."

Dave snorted, "Are you aware you're over forty now?" John sunk back into his chair. "That's a no." Dave pushed out of his chair again. He grabbed the bottle of scotch and placed it on their father's desk in front of them before sitting down, "Alright, start at the beginning, little brother."

-.-.-

"Are you drunk?!" Rodney had his hands on his hips when John stumbled into the hotel room.

John smiled at him, eyes swimming as he glanced around the room. When he noticed that Ronon was gone he wrapped an arm around Rodney's neck.

"If you kiss me while drunk, I will hit you."

John's bottom lip stuck out, "But Rodney~" John's whine had Rodney rolling his eyes.

"Did you talk with your brother?" Rodney walked John over to the bed and then shoved him off onto the mattress. John plopped down with a huff. "Get everything all…" Rodney waved his hands around in a wide circle, "…figured out."

"He told me I was being an idiot," John's head lulled to the side, a faint smiling pulling at his lips.

Rodney's brows scrunched together, "That's…good?" John chuckled, nodded. "Well, good then." He muttered about how weird Americans were as he unlaced John's shoes and pulled them off.

"I love you." Rodney straightened, one of John's shoes in his hand. He looked down at John's goofy grin. John repeated it, enunciating each word, "I. Love. You."

Rodney dropped the shoe, "Wh-why? What?" Rodney looked over the room, spinning as if he were checking for cameras, "How?"

"Well, I mean, I think there's some brain chemicals involved, and I've heard certain star signs are compatible and –"

"Don't be stupid!" Rodney rolled his eyes and swatted John's leg, "You know what I mean."

John just grinned at him again, "That's what my brother and I talked about." He wiggled his way up the bed till he was sitting up against the headboard. "How I'm hopelessly in love with you and being an idiot for not telling you."

"Oh." Rodney blushed. He started fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He could feel John watching him, when he glanced back up he saw that John was still smiling at him even though he hadn't said it back. Rodney's brow scrunched up, "Don't- don't you want me to say it back?"

"When you feel like it," John shrugged, he folded his arms behind his head. His eyes were still swimming and his smile was goofy and drunk. He was absolutely adorable, but Rodney would never admit that aloud. Even under threat of torture! (Actual torture, not guaranteed.)

Rodney shuffled is feet and puckered his lips again, "Tell me again when you're sober." He stomped off to the mini fridge and threw a water bottle at John's head. "It doesn't count if you're drunk!"

"That's what Dave said too," John chuckled, catching the water bottle and then gulping it down quickly. Rodney rolled his eyes and started fiddling about looking for takeout menus. John watched him with the softest smile yet, heart lighter as he watched Rodney's blush creep up to his ears.

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Reviews Appreciated!


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